The General and the Princess

Chapter 4 || Alleyni

 Alleyni sprinted the corridors of the Savylian castle, ignoring eye rolls from guards who were accustomed to her erratic behavior. The stables loomed before her, luring with the promise of escape. As she rounded the corner, her body slammed into something hard, and she fell backwards.

Before Alleyni could even see the face of the offender, she swore lightly. "You imbecile! Can't you even watch where you're going? You're fit to be tied and hung with the other pigs in this castle."

The man stumbled away from her, then grinned. "Alleyni? What..." Her brother laughed a little, spit forming at the corners of his mouth. "Why are you yelling at me? It's too...too...late to yell."

Alleyni's mind turned away from her own dilemmas to the giant quandary standing before her. "Luiz? Are you drunk already? Or is it still from last night?"
Luiz stumbled forward and leaned heavily on her shoulder, taking a swig from a flask hidden in his belt. "Can't ever quite tell, can you, Leyn?"
He giggled raucously but stopped when he finally focused his eyesight enough to take in her dour expression. "Now, what has you looking so miserable?"

He pinched her cheek violently and cooed a string of nonsense. Alleyni winced, instinctively grabbing her cheek. A charming blue welt was forming under her right cheekbone, just in time for the arrival of every eligible bachelor in the world, courtesy of the king.

Luiz frowned when he caught her response and the reason for it. "Leyn, what happened?"

Alleyni pressed her lips together, unwilling to divulge her secret. As if I need one more person to witness by humiliation.

"He didn't." Luiz swore and hurled his flask on the ground. "Father? He slapped you? Curse him."
"If only that were all he's done." Luiz's fury only fueled her own. "He's replacing me with Lyssa tomorrow, so she can be married off and save Savyl. I'm too much of an embarrassment," the word stung her tongue as she spat it out.

Luiz fumed, scraping his fingernails across his skull, "He is a mindless, no-good, knave of a king."

Alleyni paused for a moment and stared at him. "Luiz, I'm touched by your surprising concern for my well-being, but for some reason, I feel as if this has more to do with your interests than mine."

Luiz's all too familiar cockiness returned in a whiff of alcohol. "Oh, dear little sister, how well you know me." His chuckle struck a nefarious chord. "Everything's all about me."

My family's selfishness is going to make me sick.

"See, I'm not too fond of the idea of casting my lots in with a simpering fool who has nothing better to do than strip his eldest daughter of her potential happiness. I find his goals are too...narrow-minded. I see far greater things in the future of Savyl, goals our father is too weak to pursue."

"Luiz, you are out of control. Someone's going to hear us-"

"Stop, and listen to me." All joking left his narrowed eyes in a moment as he caught her arm and glared. "We both know that Savyl is headed towards destruction under Father's reins, and I, for one, don't tend to go down in his sinking ship."

"You would betray Savyl? But Luiz—"
"Who said anything about betraying Savyl? I spoke only of freeing Savyl from a cowardly ruler without the vision to grow our beloved country, a goal that just so happens to align with my own self-interest."
Alleyni shook her head, dismayed. Her mind was spinning with betrayal; everything was falling apart.

"Luiz...I'll...see you later." Alleyni pushed past him, knocking his inebriated body into the wall.

No horse could gallop fast enough to take her away from the nightmare trying to imprison her. Everything was collapsing around her, and she was powerless to stop it. With the privileges of her accursed position denied her, she was destined to live out her days cloistered and powerless.